Set of fitting aids

ABSTRACT

A set of aids for use in the fitting of the length of slacks and other floor-length garments to the user, which aids substitute for modern platform shoes of various different conventional heights and are used in connection with the fitting of the desired length of the garment to the user. The user selects one of the aids, corresponding to the height of his or her own personal platform shoes which are unavailable at the time, so that any necessary alterations in the length of the garment can be determined to render the garment a proper length for wearing with the user&#39;&#39;s own personal platform shoes.

United States Patent [191 Hosking 1 SET OF FITTING AIDS [75] Inventor: John S. Hosking, Shelton, Conn.

[73] Assignee: William W. Bouffard, Shelton,

Conn. a part interest 22 Filed: Jan.20, 1975 21 Appl. No.: 542,181

2.017.813 10/1935 Giuntini ..36/8.4

Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson Attorney. Agent. or Firm-Thomas L. Tully; Arthur A.

Johnson ABSTRACT A set of aids foruse in the fitting of the length of slacks and other floor-length garments to the user. which aids substitute for modern platform shoes of various different conventional heights and are used in connection with the fitting of the desired length of the garment to the user. The user selects one of the aids, corresponding to the height of his or her own personal platform shoes which are unavailable at the time. so that any necessary alterations in the length of the garment can be determined to render the garment a proper length for wearing with the users own personal platform shoes.

10 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures clothing stores, in the ab seiicetfi .the cus' SET OF FITTING AIDS The presentinvention is primarily concerned with fit-, ting and alteration problems encountered by retail clothing stores and caused by the modern trend of 'customers wearing pairs of shoes of different heights .on different occasions or for differenhpurposes. Modern highplatform-shoes have become fashionable for women, men-and children, particularly for; dress use. Such'platform shoes come in three common heights for women, as follow: heel height 3%, inches, and sole height 1% inches; heel height 2% inches. and sole height 1% inchesyand heel height 1 /2 inches and sole height onehalf inch. The three comrnon heights for men are the same as for,wome.n except that the heelheight for the large-size is .3%.inches. rather than,3%iinches. Two common heightsare usedforehildren correspondingto the mediu-m and small, sizes for men and women.

Nearly all people who wear modern high platform shoes do so only on certain.;occasions,,:and they wear conventional, ,shoes, neakers, loafers. or.- ,o,therx low shoes for comfort ,or other purposes at other timessuch as when shoppingT-hus, when such a. person happens upon a slack sale, forinstanee, while ,wearing low shoes, he or she ,ca,n,not be fitted to the-proper length for the, slacks with respect to hisor herown personal high platform shoes and must either guess at the proper length, return, to the store at a, later time .while wearing the. platform shoes or miss the sale, opportunity. q retail stores also encounter, reciprocal problem's, i.e. loss of sales, realteration problems, unfinishedsales transactio nsand theJikq Health lawspretgent, such stores from permitting aslacks -customer ,to use a pair of new platform shoes from the shoe department for purposes gffitting slacks. Wh ile,t he retail stores can set aside a collection of several pairs of platform shoes of various size to selbygcustomersj in the fitting of slacks, such; a coll ec tion is diffi cullt tostoreand the shoes can becdme mismatched or lost or.. stolen. ,l\ /lore-. overrnany peoplewillnot wear shoes which they know have been 'worn by nttm e rous ot'her people purposes.

f It is the principal obj ect of present irlivention to;

se y retail provide or ni d se r finin iad tf e -t personal platform shoes, 'i o perrnit thell ength'j of IflQQI length garments t olbe accurately fitted to the customer as if he or she was'weating' personal platformj shoes.

It is another object" of the present invention to provide a setofffitti'ng aids can consist of a small number of suchiaids', i.e aboiit four, whichrepresent all of the most conventional heights of modern plat: form shoes worn byl meri, wo and children. I

It isyet anothe'i object qr this iiiventipntoprovide fitting aids which are neat appearancefsafe and sanitary to use and resistant to l'ossand theft. i

These and other 'obje'cts of 'the present invention will be apparent totho'se skilled in the art inthe ligh t olfthe present disclosure including the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one member of a s et i of fitting aids according to the present invention, and

'F'IG.' 2 is a sideelevation view of the fitting aid of A FIG. 1 and illustrating by means of b'rokeii lines two other fitting aids of different heights which are other members of the set.

The objects and advantages of the present invention are accomplished by the provision ofa set of fitting aids for use by retail stores in connection with the determination of the-proper length of a floor-length garment, such as a pair of slacks, one member of the group of fitting aids being selected to elevate the customer a predetermined height above floorilevcl corresponding to the height of the customers own personal modern platform shoes.

. Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, each of the'fitting aids l0 ofthe present invention comprisesa support I1 having attached thereto or integral therewith a pair of elevated foot supports or platforms l2 and 13, each having a high heel section 14 and a lower'elevated sole section 15 and acontinuous' sloping upper surface 16 which correspondsto the foot-supporting inside surface or insole'of a platform shoe and which is adapted to receive and support the shoele'ss foot of the user. The platform-s 12 and 13 are closely spaced at a slight" angle from each-other to simulate a normal stance,i.e.,

they maybe spaced by about five inches at the closest v heel areas and by about 6 inches at the closest sole ar-' eas. I

The support 11 preferably is a solid wooden laminate such as plywood having a thickness of from one-eighth to one-halfinch or a plastic sheet of similar thickness.

cr'ea sedl' v I As shownby FIGJI, each support llprefe'rably is provided with a hand slot l7,' which'facilitates the handliitg of the fitting 'aid, and with a hanger opening provided with'a notch 19' which permits the set of fittingaidsto be suspended on a dowel or rod attached to a wall during'period's of non-use to provide an organized and neat appearance.

FIG. '2; illustrates a support 11 having attached thereto a medium height maiis platform 20, illustrated by solid lines. Also shown, by means of broken lines 21 and 22, are the relative heights of a small and large mans'iplatformfThe' heel heights increase from 1 inches to'2'% inches t'o'3% inches. The sole heights are" one-half'inch for the small size 2i and 1% inches for the inedi'umand'large sizes. It should be understood" that F IG. 2' is used for purposes "of simplification to illustrate three separate and distirict fitting aids comprising a set of fitting aids", each of which has a perspective appearance similar to the fitting aid of FIG. 1 and each of which has attached thereto a matchedpair of platforms of "the appropriate height, i.e.,ieither small, me-

dium or large height.

According to a preferred embodiment, the footsupporting surface 16 of each platform is slip-resistant for purposes of safety. Thus the surface 16 may be provided with a series of transverse cuts or notches across the width of each platform, for surface 16 may be molded or cast so as to have a rough or notched surface in the case of plastic platforms, or surface 16 may comprise a thin sheet or series of strips of'adhered non-skid material such as texturize'drubber, leather, or the like. This is an advantageous feature I because the footsup'porting surface of each platform can become smoother and more slippery during repeated use. It is not practical to provide a strap or other means to confine the foot on the platform because this represents another danger. If the feet are attached to the fixed platforms and the user loses balance, a fall will result and leg injuries can occur. Thus the feet must be easily separable from the platforms for safety purposes.

The present fitting aids may be provided as separate sets of three or so heights for men, three or so heights for women and two or so heights for children. The platforms 12 and 13 may be solid clogs formed of wood, cork, plastic composition, or other solid material, or may be hollow plastic platforms integrally formed with the support 11 in a molding-process and consisting of strong, durable plastic composition such as aerylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plastic. For convenience and economy purposes, the platforms l2 and 13 may comprise the wooden, cork or other composition solid platforms which are used in the shoe industry to produce platform shoes. Thus the raw platforms are attached to the support such as by means of adhesive or screws to provide the present fitting devices. As shown in FIG. 1, such shoe platforms may have arch openings 23 but these do not interfere with their use as fitting platforms according to the present invention.

In use, the potential purchaser of a pair of slacks, pants suit, dress or other floor-length garment (meaning a garment which has a proper length which touches the floor or is closely-spaced therefrom) advises the salesperson regarding the height of his or her personal platform shoes with which the garment is to be worn and which are unavailable at the time. The salesperson selects the appropriate member from the set of fitting aids which the store has on hand, which member carries a pair of platforms having a height corresponding to the height of the customers personal platform shoes. The customer, wearing the garment to be fitted, steps up onto the platforms, such as 12 and 13 of FIG. 1, and the garment such as slacks extends down, over and around each of the platforms 12 and 13 so that the garment can be marked for alteration purposes at the desired length relative to the support 11, the upper surface of support 11 representing the floor surface.

While the support of the present fitting aids preferably is a flat, floor-engaging member as illustrated, it may also be nothing more than a brace or bracket which attaches the two platforms together and holds them fixed at the desired spacing corresponding to a normal stance. In such case, the bases of the platforms engage the floor and the brace or bracket between the platforms is adjacent the floor so as not to interfere with the fitting of slacks which must extend completely around each of the platforms.

While the present fitting aids are primarily intended for use by retail stores in connection with the fitting of fiber is slip-resistant.

proper length ofa floor-length garment to be worn with platform shoes having one of said conventional heights, each member of the set comprising a support and a matched pair ofelevated platforms fixed to the support and spaced at an angle and distance corresponding to a normal stance, each platform having an elevated heel section and a lower elevated sole section and a continuous, sloping upper surface adapted to receive a shoeless foot whereby a person being fitted for a floor-length garment can stand upon said member. one shoeless foot on each platform, to be elevated a distance above floor level corresponding to the conventional height of a particular pair of modern platform shoes, different members of said set having matched pairs of platforms of different heights corresponding to the different conventional shoe platform heights of platform shoes.

2. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which each member comprises as the support a flat, floorengaging member having the matched pair of elevated platforms attached to the upper surface thereof.

3. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 2 in which the support also includes means for hanging each member of the set on a common holder.

4. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 2 in which the support also includes handle means for facilitating the manipulation of each member of the set.

'5. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which each member comprises a support and a matched pair of elevated platforms which are integrally-formed of plastic material. 7

6. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms of each mem- 7. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 6 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms of each member comprises an adhered non-skid material.

8. A fitting aid which simulates the height of a particular pair of modern platform shoes having a particular conventional shoe platform height, said aid being adapted for use in place of platform shoes in connection with the determination of the proper length of a floor-length garment to be worn with platform shoes having a particular conventional shoe platform height,

said fitting aid comprising a support and a matched pair of elevated platforms fixed to the support and spaced at an angle and distance corresponding to a normal stance, each platform having an elevated heel section and a lower elevated sole section and a continuous, sloping upper surface adapted to receive a shoeless foot whereby a person being fitted for a floor-length garment can stand upon said member, one shoeless foot on each platform, to be elevated a distance above floor level corresponding to the conventional height of said particular pair of modern platform shoes.

9. A fitting aid as defined in claim 8 in which the support comprises a flat, floor-engaging member having the matched pair of elevated platforms attached to the upper surface thereof.

10. A fitting aid as defined in claim 8 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms comprises an adhered non-skid material. 

1. A set of fitting aids, each member of which simulates the height of a different pair of modern platform shoes having a different conventional shoe platform height, said set being adapted for use in place of platform shoes in connection with the determination of the proper length of a floor-length garment to be worn with platform shoes having one of said conventional heights, each member of the set comprising a support and a matched pair of elevated platforms fixed to the support and spaced at an angle and distance corresponding to a normal stance, each platform having an elevated heel section and a lower elevated sole section and a continuous, sloping upper surface adapted to receive a shoeless foot whereby a person being fitted for a floor-length garment can stand upon said member, one shoeless foot on each platform, to be elevated a distance above floor level corresponding to the conventionaL height of a particular pair of modern platform shoes, different members of said set having matched pairs of platforms of different heights corresponding to the different conventional shoe platform heights of platform shoes.
 2. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which each member comprises as the support a flat, floor-engaging member having the matched pair of elevated platforms attached to the upper surface thereof.
 3. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 2 in which the support also includes means for hanging each member of the set on a common holder.
 4. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 2 in which the support also includes handle means for facilitating the manipulation of each member of the set.
 5. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which each member comprises a support and a matched pair of elevated platforms which are integrally-formed of plastic material.
 6. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 1 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms of each member is slip-resistant.
 7. A set of fitting aids as defined in claim 6 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms of each member comprises an adhered non-skid material.
 9. A fitting aid as defined in claim 8 in which the support comprises a flat, floor-engaging member having the matched pair of elevated platforms attached to the upper surface thereof.
 10. A fitting aid as defined in claim 8 in which the upper surface of the pair of platforms comprises an adhered non-skid material. 